Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/626803
January 14, 2016 Page 5 L ooking over my email, I noticed there has been an increase in the number of folks asking for technical advice over the past few weeks. Perhaps work slowed down a bit over the holidays, allowing people more time to write. Whatever the reason, I've always believed in "dancing with the one who brung ya," so it seems like a good time to answer some questions from readers. From Klaudia in Wisconsin: We are in the process of checking out new computers with updated software for our business. What is your take on the iMac vs. the Mac Pro? What we see is that the iMacs can have more stor age, bigger screens and are cheaper. We use the Creative Suite for most of our design ing. What do you think? From Kevin: That's a good question, Klaudia. And the answer is simple: Go with the iMac. If you were a movie producer or videographer, you might consider the Mac Pro, but for design and pro duction, you would probably never notice a difference in speed between the two com puters. So save $1,000 or so to buy my dinner next time I'm in Wisconsin. From Lora in Nebraska: I am trying to tone down the total coverage area for our presses in one easy step. We have a process that is supposed to tone all of our photos for our press so they are consistent, but the total coverage area is still too high. I can take each photo sepa rately and fix the problem, but I am wondering if there is something in Distiller when converting the entire newspaper page that would fix everything all at once. We have a very old press so we need the total ink cover age to be 220. From Kevin: Ink coverage is a funny thing. Over the years, the perfect ink cover age will change on a press due to changes in paper, ink and the press itself. It would be nice if all your ink issues could be handled when creat ing the PDF, but life never seems to work that easily. It sounds to me like you need to run some press tests (you might need someone from the outside to help with that) to determine the opti mum color settings for your press. These numbers are rarely the same between two presses. Once that's done, an action can be created in Photoshop that does most of work for you, including specifying the ink settings, when your pic tures are saved. From Steve in Minnesota: I am thinking about getting a little Apple server, around $1,000 or so, that would serve as a drop box for all of our layout files. To my under standing, however, a server can do more than provide storage. I am wondering if you think such a move would help fix my network problems. Does that make sense? From Kevin: Steve and I emailed back and forth a few times before I finally sent this recommendation, which Steve said he would follow: If you only need a server for file sharing, which is what the vast majority of small newspapers use them for, you might be best off to get a NAS/Ethernet Drive. This is a standalone drive that plugs into your network and acts as a filesharing server. If you get a good one, like a Synology, your cost will be around $700, and that will include a main drive and three backup drives, so you never lose your data. From Joe in Tennessee: There's no telling where in the world you may be tonight, but I feel sure that you are having a good time. The last time I wrote, you taught me how to convert color to gray scale in Acrobat. Now how do I convert RGB to CMYK? From Kevin: It's pretty much the same process, Joe. Find your "Print Production" tools in Acrobat. Once there, check the box by "Output Intent" and select "US Web Uncoated v2." One last bit of advice: Each year, I direct a pro gram called The Institute of Newspaper Technology, held on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Over the years, we've had attendees from newspapers in just about every state and province, and we seem to grow each year. We will be holding our 20th session October 68, 2016. To celebrate, we will be inviting more trainers, bringing back some of the favorites from past years, offering more classes, and hosting a 20th anniversary gala Oct. 7. If you've been before, come celebrate our anniversary with friends from previous sessions. If you've always wanted to attend, this is the year to come. Mark your calendars for October 68, 2016. Enjoy the beautiful weather, the Smoky Mountains, and what has come to be known interna tionally as the finest annual training event in the indus try. Find information at newspaperinstitute.com. Kevin Slimp works as a newspaper industry trainer, speaker, writer and consul tant. News in brief Send promotions, announcements, staff changes and other corporate news to mtuley@hspa.com. Former publisher to head Lee Schurz sells Kentucky papers Times-Mail names new ME Former Times Media Co. publisher Kevin Mowbray will take the reins as chief executive officer of Times' parent com pany Lee Enterprises in February. In a planned leadership transition, Mowbray will advance from executive vice president and chief operating officer to presi dent and chief executive officer. Mary E. Junck, Lee Enterprises chairwoman, president and chief execu tive officer, will become executive chairman, con tinuing to guide Lee's overall direction. The transition will take place at Lee's annual meeting on Feb. 17, when Mowbray will also stand for election to the board of directors. Davenport, Iowa, based Lee is a leading digital and print provider of local news, information and advertising in 50 mar kets, including northwest Indiana. Mowbray was publisher at The Times Media Co., in Munster, from 2004 to 2005. At that time, he was also Lee vice presi dent for publishing, with responsibility for markets in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. In 2005, Suburban Newspapers of America honored The Times as national Newspaper of the Year. Mowbray then went on to take over as publisher at Lee's newly acquired St. Louis PostDispatch. In 2012, the Post Dispatch received Lee's highest honor, Enterprise of the Year, for strong financial performance and leadership in develop ing companywide sales and audience initiatives. While in St. Louis, as a Lee vice president of publishing, he also over saw 13 Lee operations in Arizona, California, Illinois, New York, Mis souri, Pennsylvania and Utah. As CEO, Mowbray, 54, will have direct respon sibility for all aspects of Lee's operations, includ ing more than 50 divisions in 22 states. Schurz Communications announced it will sell its Kentucky publishing operations to Bluegrass Newsmedia. Schurz owns four news papers in Kentucky in Danville, Nicholasville, Stanford and Winchester. The company owns 12 other newspapers, including the South Bend Tribune in Indiana and papers in Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania and South Dakota. It also owns four cable companies in Arizona, Iowa, Florida and Maryland. Schurz announced in September that it is selling its 13 radio stations and seven TV stations. The company is waiting for Federal Communications Commission approval to complete those transac tions. Krystal Shetler assumed managing editor duties at the Times Mail. In that role, she is responsible for the Bedford news paper's editorial content and newsroom personnel management. She replaces Mike Lewis, an 18year veteran with the paper who is moving to Maryland to join his wife, who accept ed a job there. Shetler has been a member of the TimesMail staff since 1996. A gradu ate of Indiana University Southeast, she has worked in the prepress department as well as the sports and news areas of the newsroom. As a news reporter, Shetler has covered top ics ranging from police actions and court hearings to local government meet ings and economic issues. The mother of four sons, she also writes the Mom's Corner column and the At Your Service column. For the past several years she also has been a copy editor and member of the editorial board, while retaining her duties as a reporter covering Mitchell. The newspaper also announced that Carol Johnson has been moved from parttime status to a fulltime reporting posi tion. Johnson, a graduate of Indiana University, has held various roles at the newspaper since 1985. Krystal Shetler Kevin Mowbray Answers to your technology questions News Guru Kevin Slimp When it's time for a Mac upgrade, newspaper consultant Kevin Slimp recommends the less expensive iMac (pictured) over the Mac Pro for most newspapers.